smith



MAKING MATCHES. I

' Patented Apr. 29, 185-1;

5 s PETERS 00 PHOY 0. WASHINGYON n a TED oFFroE;

I. E. SMITH, OF WOLCOTT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO LEMUEL D. SMITH.

meme-ate; F6 5 ei-me antes-Si Specification of Letters PatentNo. 8,066,datec1 April 29, 1851.

To a'llwho'mitnidy concemt h -Be it known that I, IRA SMITH, of W0lcott,in the countyoi New Haven and State of Qonnecticatfhave:invented. a newand useful Machine for .Making Friction:

Matches; and I-do hereby declare that the sents detached side elevationof the ratchet I akingapart'of this speci feed. mot-ioniwon 'l anenlarged, scale. nFig.

7 grepres'ents senlarged representations of the differentprocesses'fwhlchthe tlmber, 1n formingi the matches, undergoes". i i

The timber of which the matchesware a be: made is takentin the form,ofnplank, of

any thickness from two to six inches, ,7 four orhfive inchesbein'ggenerally found the most convenient. thickness; wIt is first sawedinto block's doublefth length designed for: the

matches, themcut Tinto plates of the requisite i thicknessi fol-La match-splintgthea Width, of i coi1rse, I corresponding with the thickness eofthe 'plank fromh wh'ichl they arecutn These 1 plates are then 'dippedinmelted sulfur-or siich otheri preparation as may be used; to facilitatethefigniting ofthesiilints, In Which state they are: ready to beintroduced into 1 of making thelnintojrnat'ches,

the 'Inachinewhich; completes, the operation to the drawings.

moving power is applied, and its fly Wheel f.

This ishait' is driven. ith .great rapidity, some jifive .hnndredTrevolutions per ,mlnute, Uponthepoilita, off'thelv driving shaft,is-around band ilpassingdown. wi h aihal turn njibnlthe lafgefpartOfthQ, pU:11Qy,P (FlgS.

llafid 3.), and, irbiri ,Qthe smaller .Iparti of the Esaiiiepiilleyfthere passes another round bandto the pulley G,thiisgivlng tothenpulleyfF and.the'feedingapronA whichpasses over 4 W HY e obllquelywor -in the are ofla circle, as will be it a greatlyQreduced motion.

0,0, is, areironicleatsaupon the feeding? sijilint ail d J at interi alsia the width of the Wooden plates; above men tioned. i

b, i ,abox ith three :sides {DPQHJ at the back end, asrepresented intthedrawing Sem fi t r ten inehee hig ESixmlf eight inches long, and of-awidth just s ifii eien t mit e e th-de s pl ee,..-l i me; an eP i-n t t'be te i e a h lefteide (F ex 2) j st i e e eteeW theepr u w i ee e t if eee eeeheap n ith a ,si'ngle. p1ate,,betyveen=;the cleats topass r ugnfiei bet; e p e sge l e to ,be converted iinto n atches are piledtojanyheight; that, ,may be desired, andby, the 1ho m 't e p e t en-W ll he Radi y em each cleat takes a,plate trom the hottoni of the pile anddrives it, forward between-the fee r s a a- 1 1 mee h thel p te mayfollow each other, closely ithout ,any

n rva b w hem, s ey itted-in between the rolls, the, are so arranged est en ve t ee in emanm wh t r er th n he r tel @me e A {F e ley G isloose :upon its shatheand-coninected with it -hy, the spiral; mcoiled-around the Shaft, When one Gist/he cleats (3, 0,gvis against onesid he plate and he fihet e e? e the pla eb w en e 2 ere-pres in ai t entheewexdie "i s h hi e be e s e ro ls e eed-i s .Lhel ieenne m t -terthamthe, rateh; During time-, the sliiral e i s up re t h y er lie ltheh lffieend when the cleat, in passing around thepi lley Wie p m? h vedgi the a Pl e, "t e p in e -e he sp r l th th ee in apron sudd ly; 1ers1;b n he nex i a el in eenteet With-@ ne h P a e, end I. willnowtxproceed tohdescribe the-,machine andits niode of operation byreference driving it atonce forward to., the onegbefore 1 Th fe ding elA e 9,)- hei lfd en a iee eee edwi- 'h motion the knife is 'made to cutthe wood h one upon another are shoved forward by the ratch motionsomething like an inch beyond the knife t-ill they are caught betweenthe belts B, B, passing over the little rod h (Fig. 2) and the groovedcylinder C, which receives its motion from the large pulley D,

by means of thebelts above mentioned and its surface moves exactly thedistance between the centers of two adjacent grooves at each revolutionof the driving shaft thus receiving a match splint in each groove. Thecylinder is from half to three fourths of an inch shorter'than thesplints so that both ends of the splints are allowed to project a littlebeyond the ends of the cylinder. At the ends of this cylinder in thesame plane with its axis and at right angles with the same are the smallshafts s, 8, (Figs. 1 and 2) upon which are the dipping wheels 6, c,with a channel or crease turned into the face of each and placed in sucha position that the projecting ends of the splints shall pass into thosecreases. The surfaces of the dipping wheels move exactly with thesurface of the grooved cylinder and .the bottoms of the wheels are setdown into the dishes 0?, d, (Figs. land 2) which are fiilled with thephosphorus composition so that the creases come up filled with thecomposition and the splints are dipped at both'end by passing throughthe creases the wheels being of such a size and being placed so near theinner edges of the dishes that vertical tangents from the. innersurfaces of the wheels Where they are in contact with the splints shallfall at some distance from the dishes thus allowing theimatches afterbeing dipped to pass the dishes without coming in contact with them.

The dipping wheels receive their motion by means of bands from the largepulley D and the intermediate pulley K (as seen in Fig. 2) the othershaft being driven by a cross .band from the first. The large pulley Dreceives its motion from the driving shaft then deposited upon the beltsB, B, (as seen in Fig. 2) still remaining separated as upon the cylinderand the dipped ends projecting beyond thebelts so as not to come incontact wtih any other substance. In order to give a steady motion tothe belts, they are partially supported by a board placed underneaththem throughout their whole length. In this way the matches are carriedforward to the pulley H which must be at such a distance from themachine as will give them time to dry enough to prevent their adheringupon being brought in contact with each other. For this purpose adistance of some thirty feet may be required.

To facilitate the drying heat may be applied by means of steam pipes (ifnecessary) along the ends of the matches as they move upon the belts.the pulley H, are held firmly in contact with it by the broad belt L(Fig. 2) till they reach the bottom of the pulley where they aredeposited gently and evenly upon a moving platform underneath or inboxes arranged upon such moving platform. Such motion being given to theplatform that each box shall be exactly filled. The above description isdoubtless sufficient to elucidate every principle involved in theoperation of the machine, but I have some modifications of it incontemplation which I will proceed to specify.

In order to secure'more perfect precision The matches on reaching andcertainty in the motions of the grooved this case I would make thepulley D smaller,

place it further to the right toward the grooved cylinder, and its shaftin the same plane with the shafts s, s, of the dipping wheels. Theninstead of using the bands for driving the dipping wheels as representedin Fig. 2, I would drive them by miter gear connected with the two endsof the shaft of the pulley D.

- Instead of the mode last described it would perhaps be better todispense with the pulley D, and with all that part of the belts B, B, tothe left of the center of the grooved cylinder C (Fig. 2). In dispensingwith the pulley D, I would retain simply the shaftupon which it isplaced with the miter gear above described for driving-the dippingwheels, and drive this shaft by means of an additional worm and gearconnected with the driving shaft as seen at W (Fig. 1) and beforedescribed. The long belts B, B, would then be used simply for drying thematches and'to give them.the

proper motion. I would substitute in place of the flanges which hold thecircular knife n (Fig. 3) two pulleys of sufiicient Width to carry thosebelts, and about an inch less in diameter than the knife. I would-passthe belts around these pulleys, and connect the shaft 2? upon which theyare placed With the shaft of the grooved cylinder by means of gear soarranged that the surfaces of the belts shall move exactly With thesurface of the last named cylinder. Then as I have the belts no longerto hold the splints in the grooves of the cylinder I would substitutefor them a metallic apron fitted closely to the cylinder and passingfrom the little roll, it, around to the bottom of the cylinder, thusholding the splints in place till they reach the belts, still retainingthe roll, it, (though Without any belts around it) to aid in placing thesplints in the grooves. This last I am inclined to regard as the mostperfect mode of construction, as it secures the most exactcorrespondence between the motions of the grooved cylinder, dippingWheels and belts, not subject to any Variation from the slipping orstretching of bands.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis- 1. The mode of feeding in the plates of Wood by means of the.feeding apron with its cleats, spring pulley F, and rollers g, g.

2 The mode of separating and dipping the splints by means of the groovedcylinder C, cutter n, endless bands B, and revolving heels 6, e.

t IRA H. SMITH. Witnesses i WILLIAM FREEMAN,

JOSIAH W. FREEMAN.

